Seaweed fishing in Zanzibar

Zanzibar has two main islands and around 50 surrounding islets and if you’re on one of the islands as the sun rises chances are that you will see the woman of Zanzibar knee deep in the water harvesting seaweed.

Seaweed fishing in Zanzibar. 

Seaweed is the third largest industry after tourism and cloves. 80% of the workforce are women and the money they make can help send their children to school and to build houses. Lisa De Bode travelled to Zanzibar, for the World Policy Journal, to meet the women and find out what the challenges will be moving forward and whether or not the women be able to meet them?

Listen to the ABC Radio National discussion with Geraldine Doogue - “Seaweed fishing in Zanzibar.”

Can Seaweed Save The World? - Tim Flannery

Professor Tim Flannery (right) investigates how seaweed is helping to save the world - from growing the foods of the future, helping save the reef and even combating climate change.

Watch Tim Flannery on the ABC’s Catalyst - “Can Seaweed Save The World?”

Queen of tides

When I emerged for breakfast in my Venice hotel, a stylish establishment with fine furnishings and carpets, and a garden courtyard, there was a stench. Salt, sewage and seaweed had combined in a thick, rising miasma. The beautiful, ornate staircase led down to chaos. A round-faced, dark-haired boy aged about 10 stood at the top of the stairs, staring with some excitement down into the mess. He was a fellow guest and when he saw me about to descend, he pronounced solemnly: ‘Breakfast’s been cancelled. The kitchen’s flooded.’ Food deliveries had been disrupted, cooking was impossible, voices were raised.

 Tidal waters rose to 1.4 metres in
Venice Italy, November 2012.

Water had risen up from the foundations. The cobbled streets of Venice had become shallow canals. The same street-sellers who were flogging bags and trinkets yesterday were touting thigh-length plastic boots today. Outside the door of the hotel, people were ploughing through water up to their calves, tourists were stumbling towards their travel deadlines with suitcases above their heads, and in the Piazza San Marco they were up to their waists in seawater. Youngsters could swim under the campanile.

Read the Aeon story - “Queen of tides.”

Feeding cows seaweed could slash global greenhouse gas emissions, researchers say

According to Mr Kinley, the agriculture
industry stand to be one of the first
industries to make a dramatic reduction
to greenhouse gas emissions is this  
research gets to market.

Seaweed could hold the key to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, one cow burp at a time.

New research carried out in north Queensland could drastically reduce the impact the agricultural industry has on the global environment.

Professor of aquaculture at James Cook University in Townsville, Rocky De Nys, has been working with the CSIRO studying the effects seaweed can have on cow's methane production.

They discovered adding a small amount of dried seaweed to a cow's diet can reduce the amount of methane a cow produces by up to 99 per cent.

Read the ABC Rural story - “Feeding cows seaweed could slash global greenhouse gas emissions, researchers say.”

Tim talks and hundreds listen, intently and quietly

Tim Flannery at the University of
Sunshine Coast with one of
his admirers, Brittany Elliott.

More than 250 people listened intently, and quietly, last night when Tim Flannery spoke at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Flannery, the former chief of the Federal Government’s Climate Commission, who has now joined other sacked commissioners to set the community funded, Climate Council, was the “rock-star” in the university’s series of events for the “Research Week”.

The former Australian of the Year (2007), also a mammologist, palaeontologist, environmentalist and global warming activist alerted listeners to the dilemma settling upon us because of climate change and discussed the challenges and opportunities within mitigation for regional communities.

He talked about opportunities for universities such as the Sunshine Coast which we unencumbered by the tradition and formalities that frequently limited the work of older and bigger institutions.

Tim was scheduled to speak for an hour, finished his formal address in about 40 minutes and then answered questions for another 50 minutes, exceeding his allotted time by half an hour, but it an extension that was enthusiastically welcomed by the audience.

He explained the scale of the situation talking about the size of global human  emissions, what was naturally sequestered and what we would have to do in terms of sequestration is we were to slow or reverse climate change.

He talked about how seaweed was a fascinating natural sequestration plant and how the many benefits of the aquatic plant had been found by a woman working at a regional university.

Tim said that the growth and harvesting of seaweed in just nine per cent of the world’s oceans would be sufficient to slow climate change. The harvesting of the seaweed was critical as it would simply ocean acidification and contributes further to global carbon dioxide emissions if allowed to die and rot.

A raft a questions came from the floor, but it was the one about “what do I do personally” that promoted some comments from Tim about Australia’s democratic system.

Being the day after Australia’s carbon pricing mechanism had been repealed, he said: “We live in a failed democracy, where the will of the people isn’t truly represented in our democratic process, it’s partly there, we have people of good will in our parliaments, but we don’t have a mechanism which allows people to have their correct say”.  

He delighted the audience, when arguing for energy adaptation – “The most successful adaptation we can have” -  he pointed that rooftop solar is now the fourth largest energy generator system in Queensland.